October Sewing

After my latest pattern release, the Round the World Purse, I got started on my handmade stocking side of my business. I didn’t sell stockings last Christmas, but thankfully still had a several half finished from the season before, so I was able to whip up a bunch quickly. If you want to take a gander, here is my Stockings by Toriska shop on Etsy. And remember, I sell the pattern for these, the Yuletide Stocking, so you can also make your own unique stockings! Here’s a few of my favorites I’ve made this year.

In October so far, I’ve been mainly working on Halloween costumes and started on Christmas gifts, but I’ve had some other projects too. First, the costumes. My daughters want to be a witch and a vampire queen, so I made them each a cape and one of them gets a witch hat. I still need to make them dresses, but my fabric hasn’t arrived yet. The capes are from Twig & Tale (I modified it to get the vampire look), the hat is a free pattern from Eunoia patterns (but I changed several things about it because I wasn’t really satisfied with the interfacing or sewing steps as called for in the pattern).

It was in the 80s for awhile here in Delaware and then decided overnight to be in the 50s, so the sudden onset of fall was a bit shocking. I made my one year old a new lightweight jacket, and he wore it maybe twice before he needed something heavier weight. I made him two jackets from the same pattern, the Summit Peak Hoodie from New Horizons. I made my other kids jackets from this same pattern last year, so now they all match. I used cotton lycra for the lightweight one and luxe fleece from Joann Fabrics for the second. It’s thick and tricky to sew, but so warm and super soft.

I just realized I didn’t post my finished kids chair re-do! I made a cover for our toddler-sized armchair and a new cushion. Then this week I used the extra fabric to make a cover for the saucer chair my kids really like, and I also made a couple of pillows for my family room to match. They need better pillow inserts and I’ll have to add buttons on the back because I didn’t have enough for a full envelope closure. For now, they are soft and cute.

On Sundays I have started working on sewing hats for the organization Delaware Head Huggers. They send handmade hats to cancer institutes all over the country. They also have a blanket program for foster kids. My kids helped me make some of the hats, and I have a bunch more cut out. I’m loving having an ongoing service project, and it’s enabling me to use up a bunch of scraps, which always feels great.

Lastly, I’ve gotten started on Christmas presents. I’ve been buying them for a month, and I always end up making a handful of gifts. Since I’m hoping my stocking shop will be quite busy next month, it makes sense to get the gifts done sooner rather than later. I used fabric panels from Smoogie Fabrics to make these gifts. The blankets are going to be Christmas gifts for the two babies of the family, my youngest and my niece. I used minky fabric for the backing. This was my first time making a self-binding blanket and I love that technique. (Here’s a tutorial). I also made my sons a new rug for their room. I originally intended it to be a Christmas gift too (and I planned on it being a wall hanging until I realized how big it was), but I don’t want to store this folded for a couple months until Christmas. It will get too wrinkly. We’ll see how it works as a rug. I may end up hanging it on the wall after all.

I have a couple of simple serged blankets I was planning on making today that will be Christmas gifts, but I have Halloween costume fabric arriving in the mail, and my time is running short to finish costumes before the first parties start next week. I still need to make two velvet dresses, a hoodie, a backpack accessory thing, and a baby onesie outfit.